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Monday, February 19, 2018

My Two Cents: Remove The Terrorists: ____, Ryan, Rubio, the NRA, and The Others

I don’t want to write about dead schoolchildren because I becomes just the same old post; sure, maybe I’d change concert goer to teenager, or church goer to movie patron, but all in all it’s the same thing: people die in this country because of the NRA and the GOP.

And before anyone jumps that it’s also the Democrats, let’s take note that in the 2016 election cycle the NRA gave almost $6 million to Republicans candidates while given $106,000 to Democrats.

Notice the difference. That’s why “thoughts and prayers” and that’s why “now is not the time to talk” and that’s why “knee jerk reactions” and that’s why it’s becoming crystal to anyone with a brain, and I know some of you on the right have them, I just wish you’d engage them more often, to vote out the GOP.

But, if you need convincing, let’s see what some in the GOP did after the shooting …

Donald and Melania _____ spent a day taking pictures at a hospital where the Fat Bastard smiled and gave a thumbs up.

A thumbs up? How many dead children and he smiles and gives a thumbs up?

Fuck.Him.

But after the thumbs up the _____’s attended a Studio 54 disco-themed party at Mar-a-Lago. yup; nothing says “thoughts and prayers” like a disco party, though, to be fair, Instagram user Sean Bianca, who shared a photo of the _____’s. did say they did not dance and appeared somber.

Really? He was somber at a disco party but all smiles and thumbs up at a hospital?

Fuck.Him.

In case you’d forgotten, after the Sandy Hook shooting a real president, Barack Obama, after meeting for hours with families of the victims, sat alone in a classroom and then attended a prayer vigil.

No thumbs up; no disco parties.

The next day, the Fat Bastard used dead children to attack the FBI and bring it all back around the their investigation of him. He turned the mass shooting of schoolchildren into a pansy-assed cry about being the target of the FBI.

Fuck.Him.

And while we’re at it, Fuck Paul Ryan, too.

I mean, how did the man who said we shouldn’t discuss gun control after the shooting because it was a “knee jerk” reaction, spend his time after the shootings? He went to Florida, too, though not to Parkland, or a hospital, or to meet with victims and their families.

He went to a fundraiser in Key Biscayne.

Maria Thorne, a Key Biscayne activist and elementary school teacher, saw Ryan’s the motorcade clogging up her commute home, so she and a friend decided to attend the event.

There, she found Ryan, and she shook his hand, introduced herself and told him she was a schoolteacher.

“Nice,” said Ryan.

“Nice? You’re here celebrating the death of 17 children.”

Ryan then told her he did not wish to discuss politics—at a motherfucking political fundraiser—and when Maria Thorne tried to continue the conversation, she was removed from the room by security.

In 2016, Paul Ryan took $171, 977 from the NRA; roughly ten thousand per student in Parkland. Hope it was worth it and …

Fuck.Him.

Now, onto some praise for those Americans speaking up, and some of those loud voices are teenagers.

In Miami, after the shooting, there appeared three billboards very similar in tone to those in the Oscar-nominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. But these three red billboards said, in bold black lettering:

SLAUGHTERED IN SCHOOL

AND STILL NO GUN CONTROL?

HOW COME, MARCO RUBIO?

Little Marco “Foam Party” Rubio did not address the protest, but he went all _____ Tweeter scolding the media for ignoring the work he’s done that doesn’t conform to a “narrative” that “evil Republicans in pocket of NRA are blocking gun laws.”

Though Rubio has only received $4,950 from the NRA, the terrorist organization has funneled more than $1 million into getting Rubio elected, and reelected to office. In fact, Marco Rubio ranks among the top 10 beneficiaries of the NRA in the Senate.

Fuck.Him.

And that is precisely what may happen, in a figurative sense, if people like Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student, Cameron Kasky, have their way. Kasky took his views to CNN, where he posted this op-ed:

“I thought it was going to be a wonderful day. My high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, was full of cheerful students—many of whom were celebrating Valentine's Day with one another. Even those who didn't have a Valentine seemed like they could find reasons to smile.

But then, of course, everything changed. Toward the end of the day, I went to pick up my little brother Holden from the special needs classroom. As we exited the school, the fire alarm went off. And as we retreated to the parking lot, per fire drill procedure, we were told to run back inside.It was very confusing, especially since I was surrounded by special needs students. But the truth is, nobody really knew what was going on. We huddled in a room, listening to terrifying noises we couldn't quite identify, and spent an hour plagued by uncontrolled anxiety ... waiting for answers. Waiting for somebody to either come in and shoot us or come in and tell us everything was going to be OK.Eventually, the SWAT team came in and did an excellent job taking care of the students with disabilities. We were then escorted to our evacuation location and, after hours of confusion and terror, my brother and I made it home.

Though we made it home, 17 people didn't. Those 17 people were murdered on the grounds of a school that has always felt like the safest place to be in a town that's been called the safest town in Florida.

We can't ignore the issues of gun control that this tragedy raises. And so, I'm asking—no, demanding—we take action now.

Why? Because at the end of the day, the students at my school felt one shared experience—our politicians abandoned us by failing to keep guns out of schools.

But this time, my classmates and I are going to hold them to account. This time we are going to pressure them to take action. This time we are going to force them to spend more energy protecting human lives than unborn fetuses.

One of the most frustrating arguments I've heard is that it wasn't the Republican Party that killed those people and it wasn't the National Rifle Association—it was the shooter himself. I understand where they are coming from. I do not believe this was a direct attack from the Republicans or their close allies at the NRA.However, the shooter is not the only one responsible for this tragedy. While the alleged shooter may have had several issues, he also lived in a society where Sen. Marco Rubio refuses to take responsibility for the role gun culture may have played in this tragedy.

And there is no denying that the NRA continues to donate millions of dollars to politicians at every level of government. Then those politicians—often "family values" conservatives—rile up their base by making them think that "liberals" are going to take their guns away. Not knowing any better, some of these people stockpile guns in advance of a gun ban that never comes, and the gun manufacturers and the NRA make millions.

But the truth is that the politicians on both sides of the aisle are to blame. The Republicans, generally speaking, take large donations from the NRA and are therefore beholden to their cruel agenda. And the Democrats lack the organization and the votes to do anything about it.

I'm just a high school student, and I do not pretend to have all of the answers. However, even in my position, I can see that there is desperate need for change—change that starts by folks showing up to the polls and voting all those individuals who are in the back pockets of gun lobbyists out of office.Please do it for me. Do it for my fellow classmates. We can't vote, but you can, so make it count. “

But, one day soon, hopefully by 2020, Cameron Kasky will be able to vote, and I’m fairly certain he’ll remember the GOP and the NRA and his dead friends.

And that’s going to be good, though, yes, even us older folks will need to stand with Cameron and cast our votes to removed NRA-0funded Republicans, and those few democrats from office.

If we choose to fight terrorism, let’s first fight the homegrown terrorism of the NRA and the GOP.

10 comments:

I have some hope because of the courage and activism of students - they have the energy, the momentum, the grief and the fear on their side. I hope they never give up and channel their energies to accomplish good things. I will stand and march with them.

The day before the 3 billboards hit Florida they were doing the rounds in London in front of parliament after going around Grenfell Tower - those billboard said 71 dead - and still no arrests - how come?

If only they could do away with guns altogether the world would be a better place - you can't shoot more than one person at a time with a bow and arrow.

I heard some kids are trying to get everyone to march on Washinton DC next month to protest. Somehow I'm hoping it gets politicians into gear to do something besides fixing loopholes. But I dought anything will come of it. NRA has too much money and politicians are too greedy.